Sheffield Wednesday: Carvalhal thrilled to land Everton winger on loan

Head coach Carlos Carvalhal has revealed he tried to sign new Owls recruit Aiden McGeady when he was in charge of Sporting Lisbon.
Carlos CarvalhalCarlos Carvalhal
Carlos Carvalhal

The Republic of Ireland international, who has arrived on loan from Everton until the end of the season, underwent a medical last night and trained with his new teammates for the first time this morning.

The Owls beat off competition from Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers to land McGeady, who has played just once for the Toffees all season.

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Speaking at his press briefing today, Carvalhal said: "I'm very happy to have signed him. He can improve the team. He can give us extra quality.

"He's a player I know very, very well because when he played for Celtic I was coach at Sporting and tried to bring him to Sporting. At that moment, it wasn't possible.

"I know him very well. He can improve us and help us in the second half of the season."

Born in Denny, Scotland, McGeady started his career at Celtic, racking up 37 goals in 251 appearances for the Hoops. He won Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish League Cups and two Scottish Cups and was voted Scotland's best player by his fellow professionals in 2008, picking up the SPFA's Players' Player of the Year prize.

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He went on to become Scottish football's then-most expensive ever export in joining Spartak Moscow for £9.5million in August 2010.

Although he represented Scotland Schools as a teenager, McGeady qualifies to play for the Republic through his grandparents and switched his allegiance when called up by the Under-15s. He has been capped 79 times by his country, hitting five goals.

His last outing for Everton came back in August when they beat Barnsley in the Capital One Cup.

Toffees boss Roberto Martinez said: “Aiden needs to play and it's a really good opportunity for him to do that in a very demanding fixture list for a team that can get a really good tempo into Aiden for the Euros.

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“That will make sure he comes back having had a good period of football and of having an impact.”

McGeady becomes Wednesday's fourth Premier League capture in January, following in the footsteps of Jack Hunt, Joe Bennett and Gary Hooper. He could make his Owls debut in tomorrow's clash at home to promotion rivals Burnley.